Technical Field
This patent application relates to electronic systems for managing access to an item and for services to be applied to an item.
Background Information
Certain businesses provide a service where a physical object owned by someone else is taken in for handling or processing and then returned. One such business is a laundry service. Institutions such as restaurants, hotels and hospitals, delivery services, emergency responders, indeed any organization that dresses their public-facing personnel in uniforms, requires a constant flow of clean linens and garments. A similar challenge is presented in a university or hotel valet where there may be thousands of students or hotel guests needing their personal garments washed on a regular and timely basis.
Organized collection, sorting, laundering, packaging, and timely return of articles in these environments is critical to smooth operation of the institution as a whole.
It is also important to correctly associate a specific customer with each piece of personal property being serviced so that items are not returned to people who are not authorized to receive them.
A customer of such a service would also prefer to be notified of certain events, such as the stage of processing, and when their items are ready to be picked up.